As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to these users is an information handling system. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may vary with respect to the type of information handled; the methods for handling the information; the methods for processing, storing or communicating the information; the amount of information processed, stored, or communicated; and the speed and efficiency with which the information is processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include or comprise a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
An information handling system may contain a basic input/output system (BIOS). The BIOS is provided on a computer readable medium, such as a nonvolatile memory. When an information handling system is powered on, the central processing unit (CPU) will begin executing instructions from the BIOS in a privileged mode called system management mode (SMM). In addition to initializing the information handling system and all of its hardware, the BIOS also stores hardware settings. Settings that may be stored in the BIOS include the boot order, memory and bus clock speed settings, or system passwords. Early in the boot process, the BIOS will begin a power-on procedure, such as a power-on self test (POST). During POST, the BIOS identifies hardware components installed or connected to the information handling system, performs initialization of connected hardware, and performs other tasks necessary to prepare the information handling system for loading an operating system. After the POST routine completes, the BIOS may enter a setup mode. During setup, a user may choose to change various parameters of the BIOS, such as setting the boot order.
Once BIOS setup is complete, or the user ignores the option to enter setup, the BIOS will attempt to load an operating system from a bootable device. The bootable device is typically a hard disk drive, but may be any type of bootable device, such as a CD/DVD drive, or a flash drive. When multiple bootable devices are present, the BIOS will attempt to load the operating system according to the boot order. For example, the BIOS may be set to attempt booting from a CD/DVD drive, and if that fails, to boot from a hard disk connected to a storage controller. Before control is passed to the operating system, the central processing unit will transition from system management mode into a lower privileged or non-privileged mode. The operating system will control execution of the information handling system until a system management interrupt (SMI) is generated. When a SMI is generated, the central processing unit saves certain aspects of the state of the information handling system, and transfers control to BIOS code. The BIOS code will operate in system management mode until it returns from the interrupt. Once the SMI is handled, the central processing unit restores the state of the system, and normal operation continues.
As the number of information handling systems has increased, the need for centralized management of BIOS settings has become critical to enable cost effective systems management. In networked environments, Serial over LAN has become a common method of managing BIOS settings. A number of management interfaces provided by information handling systems have been proprietary. Recently, standardized interfaces, such as the Desktop and Mobile Architecture for System Hardware, have been developed to manage BIOS settings.